Britain's dragonflies, which date back to the dinosaurs but are increasingly threatened by habitat destruction, pollution and climate change, are to be the subject of a major national survey.
The five-year project, to be launched on Thursday, will result in a new atlas of the 39 species of dragonfly and damselfly that breed in Britain – which are soon likely to be joined by several others.
As it warms up, the climate is bringing new species into the UK from continental Europe, and allowing species already here to move further north. Already, one new European species has established itself here since the publication of the last British dragonfly atlas in 1996 – the small red-eyed damselfly. A decade ago it had never been seen in the UK; now it has breeding colonies from Devon to Norfolk, and continues to spread.
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